Disclosed in the embodiments herein is an improved, low cost, plural color spectrophotometer for color detection, calibration and/or correction systems, highly suitable to be used for, or incorporated into, the color calibration or control of various color printing systems or other on-line color control or color processing systems.
In particular, the disclosed exemplary spectrophotometer and color measurement system enables more than one test color to be measured at a time, thus increasing the sampling rate and/or reducing the number color test substrates and/or generations of color test patches.
Also disclosed in the embodiment herein is a low cost broad color spectrum spectrophotometer in which different colors may be measured on one or more of the same, low cost, multiple photo-sites, photodetector chips. Disclosed herein is an example of how such multi-pixel (and plural differently color responsive) chips can be used to read plural color test patches simultaneously.
Furthermore, the disclosed embodiment also teaches how the above and other advantageous features may be combined with other advantageous features of a desirably non-contacting spectrophotometer with greatly reduced spatial and angular insensitivity to allowable movements of the color test target area or surface relative to the non-contacting spectrophotometer, as also and further described in the above cross-referenced applications.
The exemplary disclosed spectrophotometer desirably utilizes (incorporates in part) a pre-assembly component or part (hereinafter xe2x80x9cchipxe2x80x9d) of a low cost commercially available document imaging array or bar, such as heretofore used for imaging colored documents in various scanners, digital copiers, and multifunction products. As is well known in the art, such commercial document imaging bars have multiple photo-sites, and are plural spectra responsive, typically by having three rows of respective red, green and blue filtered photo-sites.
As also disclosed in the spectrophotometer embodiment herein, it may employ only a small limited number of different spectra LED or other illumination sources, yet provide multiple data outputs suitable for broad spectral data reconstruction from such a low cost photosensor having plural different spectral responsive photo-sites, by detecting light reflected by a plural color test target area sequentially illuminated by those illumination sources, and/or white light illuminated, to rapidly provide broad spectrum data from a plural colors test surface.
By way of background, examples of full color document imaging bars include those used in various document scanning systems of various well known Xerox Corporation commercial products (including some being alternatively used for black and white imaging) such as the Document Center 255DC(trademark) products, or the Document Center Color Series 50(trademark) products. Some examples of patents relating to semiconductor color imager bars or segments thereof and their operation or circuitry include Xerox Corporation U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,297, issued Sep. 15, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,838, issued Aug. 6, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,653, issued Aug. 27, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,362, issued Feb. 18, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,514, issued May 21, 1996. Typically, such color imaging bars come already provided with at least three different color filters, such as red, green and blue, overlying three rows of closely spaced light sensor elements (photo-sites), to provide electrical output signals corresponding to the colors of the document image being scanned. Such imaging bars are typically formed by edge butting together a number of individual imaging chips, each having such multiple tiny and closely spaced photo-sites. Typically, there are three rows of such photo-sites on each such chip, as in the assembled imaging bar, with said integral filters for red, green and blue, respectively.
Because of the high volumes in which such commercial color imaging bars are made for such products, it has been discovered that their manufacturers can provide, at low cost, a commercial source of said single chip components thereof. The fact that each such chip can provide electrical signals from multiple light sensor elements (photo-sites) in at least three rows of different spectral responses which are closely enough spaced together so as to be simultaneously illuminated by a relatively small area of illumination, is effectively utilized in the spectrophotometer of the embodiment herein. (It will be understood that the term xe2x80x9cchipxe2x80x9d as used herein does not exclude the use of two or more such chips, either integrally abutted or separately positioned.)
However, it is not believed that heretofore such plural sensors chips for plural color sensing, which are normally put together in series for imaging bars for document scanning, have ever been used in spectrophotometers. These chips themselves are not normally even sold or used individually. The disclosed embodiment illustrates how that may be done, to provide a compact and lower cost spectrophotometer especially suitable for on-line color control systems for sensing the colors of moving printed sheets or other color materials.
Although not limited thereto, the exemplary spectrophotometer of the embodiment herein is shown and described herein in desirable combination as an integral part of an automatic on-line continuous color table correction system of a color printer, in which this low cost spectrophotometer may be affordably provided in the output path of each color printer for automatic measurement of printed color test patches of printer output, without any manual effort or intervention being required. Such color control systems are further described in the above and below cited co-pending applications and patents. For example, in Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,007 B1, issued Jan. 23, 2001, based on U.S. application Ser. No. 08/786,010, filed Jan. 21, 1997 by Steven J. Harrington, Attorney Docket No. D/96644, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod For Continuous Incremental Color Calibration For Color Document Output Terminals.xe2x80x9d The European patent application equivalent thereof was published by the European Patent Office on Jul. 22, 1998 as EPO Publication No. 0 854 638 A2. Also, Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,648, issued Apr. 24, 2001, based on U.S. application Ser. No. 08/787,524, also filed Jan. 21, 1997, by Barry Wolf, et al, entitled xe2x80x9cOn Line Compensation for Slow Drift of Color Fidelity in Document Output Terminals (DOT)xe2x80x9d, Attorney Docket No. D/96459. Also noted in this regard are Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,469, issued Dec. 5, 2000 and filed May 22, 1998 by Lingappa K. Mestha; Apple Computer, Inc. U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,209, issued 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,902 issued Mar. 18, 1997 to Michael Stokes, and other patents and applications further noted below.
A low cost, relatively simple, spectrophotometer, as disclosed herein, is thus particularly (but not exclusively) highly desirable for such a xe2x80x9ccolorimetryxe2x80x9d function for such an on-line printer color correction system. Where at least one dedicated spectrophotometer is provided in each printer, its cost and other factors becomes much more significant, as compared to the high cost (and other unsuitability""s for on-line use) of typical laboratory spectrophotometers.
An early patent of interest as to using a calorimeter in the printed sheets output of a color printer is Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,221, issued May 5, 1998 to Vittorio Castelli, et al, filed Nov. 1, 1995 (D/95398). This patent is also of particular interest here for its Col. 6, lines 18 to 28 description of measuring color:
xe2x80x9c. . . by imaging a part of an illuminated color patch on three amorphous silicon detector elements after filtering with red, green and blue materials. The technology is akin to that of color input scanners. The detector outputs can be used as densitometric values to assure color consistency. Calibration of the resulting instrument outputs against measurement by laboratory calorimeters taken over a large sample of patches made by the toners of the printer of interest allows mapping to absolute color coordinates (such as L*a*b*).xe2x80x9d
Automatic on-line color recalibration systems can be much more effective with an on-line color measurement system where a spectrophotometer may be mounted in the paper path of the moving copy sheets in the printer, preferably in the output path after fusing or drying, without having to otherwise modify the printer, or interfere with or interrupt normal printing, or the movement of the printed sheets in said paper path, and yet provide accurate color measurements of test color patches printed on the moving sheets as they pass the spectrophotometer. That enables a complete closed loop color control of a printer.
Although the specific exemplary low cost color spectrophotometer embodiment herein is shown as a desirable on-line part of an exemplary color printer automatic color control system for color calibration and re-calibration, it will be appreciated that this or other versions of that spectrophotometer are not limited to that disclosed application. Color measurements, and/or the use of color measurements for various other color quality or consistency control functions, are also important for many other different technologies and applications, such as in the production of textiles, wallpaper, plastics, paint, inks, etc. Thus, the disclosed spectrophotometer and/or its related color detection system and/or controls may have applications in various such other fields where various other materials or objects are desirably color tested and/or process controlled. Another application of improved on-line color printing control enabled by a low cost, non-contact, spectrophotometer for spectral analysis and direct color control feedback is to provide much more accurate, yet low cost, local user digital printing of remotely transmitted (over the internet or otherwise) digital camera (or scanned optical camera) color photographs over the internet. Color control of printed photographs, especially flesh tones, is particularly customer sensitive. Plural color test patches can be automatically generated and transmitted with the original photographic image source (adjacent to, or on pages before, or after, the photographic image) for reading their color reproduction accuracy at the output of the remote printer as described herein or otherwise.
By way of general background, studies have demonstrated that humans are particularly sensitive to spatial color variations. Typical full color printing controls, as well as typical color controls in other commercial industries, still typically utilize manual off-line color testing and still often require relatively frequent manual color adjustments by skilled operators. Both the cost and the difficulty of on-line use of prior color measurement apparatus and control systems, and the need for manual recalibration steps, has heretofore inhibited automation of many of such various commercial color testing and color adjustment systems. The disclosed lower cost spectrophotometer addresses both of those concerns.
By way of some examples of the construction or design of various other color spectrophotometers themselves, besides Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,221 above, and, especially, the above cross-referenced U.S. application Ser. No. 09/535,007, filed Mar. 23, 2000 by Fred F. Hubble, III and Joel A. Kubby, there is noted HP U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,059, issued 1993; and HP U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,518, issued Dec. 21, 1993; Accuracy Microsensor, Inc. U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,451 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,364, both issued to Cornelius J. McCarthy on Nov. 17, 1998 and Aug. 11, 1992, respectively; Color Savvy U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,761, 6,020,583, 5,963,333; BYK-Gardner U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,680; and Colorimeter U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,454.
Also of background interest here is that white (instead of narrow spectrum) LED illuminators and plural sensors with different color filters are disclosed in an EP Patent Application No. 0 921 381 A2, published 09.06.1999 for a color sensor for inspecting color print on newspaper or other printed products.
By way of further background, or expressing it in other words, for a desirably low cost implementation of a spectrophotometer with plural light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the respective different color light sources, LEDs of different colors may be selected and switched on individually in sequence to illuminate a test target for a brief length of time sufficient for enough information to be extracted by a photocell of the reflectance spectra of the substrate. Over a number of years, a concentrated effort in the Xerox Corporation Wilson Research Center has designed and built a relatively low cost experimental spectrophotometer using, for example, 10 LEDs, as part of a printer color control system dynamically measuring the color of test patches on the printed output media xe2x80x9con line,xe2x80x9d that is, while the media is still in the sheet transport or paper path of a print engine, for real-time and fully automatic printer color correction applications. A limited example of that color control system capability was presented in a restricted public technology capability demonstration by Xerox Corporation at the international xe2x80x9cDrupa 2000xe2x80x9d show in Germany (without public disclosure of the hardware, software or technical details, or any offers to sell). Further details of the specific spectrophotometer embodiment so utilized are disclosed in the prior above first-paragraph cross-referenced patent application by Fred F. Hubble, III and Joel A. Kubby. Each LED thereof was selected to have a narrow band response curve in the spectral space. Ten LEDs provided 10 color calibration measurements on the spectral reflectance curve. The LEDs are switched on one at a time and the reflected light was detected by a single photodetector as a photo-current which may be integrated for few milliseconds to give a voltage output. Thus, 10 voltage outputs per each measured color test patch are available with such a spectrophotometer using 10 LEDs. These voltages may be converted directly to L*a*b* color space, or to 10 reflectance values and then to L*a*b* color space coordinates (if needed). The cost of that LED spectrophotometer hardware includes the head for mounting the 10 spaced LEDs, the lenses, and the basic switching electronics.
Other than the above Xerox Corp. experimental spectrophotometers, some others presently known include a grating-based spectrophotometer made by Ocean Optics Inc., LED based sensors marketed by xe2x80x9cColorSavvyxe2x80x9d or Accuracy Microsensor (such as in their above-cited patents); and other spectrophotometers by Gretag MacBeth (Viptronic), ExColor, and X-Rite (DTP41). However, those other spectrophotometers are believed to have significant cost, measurement time, target displacement errors, and/or other difficulties, for use in real-time printer on-line measurements.
For maintaining or lowering the UMC (unit manufacturing cost) of color printers in which a dedicated on-line spectrophotometer and its circuitry would need to be provided in each printer, there is a further need to further bring down the cost of a suitably fast, yet suitably wide spectral range, spectrophotometer. If the spectrophotometer cost can be sufficiently reduced, it may be practicable as well as desirable to provide an on-line output color control system for many or most future color printers, even relatively low cost color printers. That is because, as taught in art cited herein and elsewhere, other components and features of such an on-line printer color control system can be largely implemented in software, which has little incremental UMC, by implementing color correction tables, steps and/or algorithms in software and digital memory. (See, for example, the above-cited Xerox Corp. Steven J. Harrington U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,007 B1, and other art cited therein and/or above, including Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,469.)
It is believed that a spectrophotometer of the novel type disclosed herein, utilizing a component chip or portion of a low UMC commercially available color image sensor array or bar, such as imager bars mass produced for commercial use in document scanners, combined with suitable LEDs or other light sources so as to provide a spectrophotometer of suitable speed and spectral outputs, has the potential to give even greater speed at even lower cost than the above-described low cost 10 LED Xerox Corp. LED spectrophotometer.
As used in the patent claims and elsewhere herein, unless otherwise specifically indicated, the term xe2x80x9cspectrophotometerxe2x80x9d may encompass a spectrophotometer, calorimeter, and densitometer, as broadly defined herein. That is, the word xe2x80x9cspectrophotometerxe2x80x9d may be given the broadest possible definition and coverage in the claims herein, consistent with the rest of the claim. The definition or use of such above terms may vary or differ among various scientists and engineers. However, the following is an attempt to provide some simplified clarifications relating and distinguishing the respective terms xe2x80x9cspectrophotometer,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9ccalorimeter,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdensitometer,xe2x80x9d as they may be used in the specific context of specification examples of providing components for an on-line color printer color correction system, but not necessarily as claim limitations.
A typical xe2x80x9cspectrophotometerxe2x80x9d measures the reflectance of an illuminated object of interest over many light wavelengths. Typical prior spectrophotometers in this context use 16 or 32 channels measuring from 400 nm to 700 nm or so, to cover the humanly visible color spectra or wavelength range. A typical spectrophotometer gives color information in terms of measured reflectances or transmittances of light, at the different wavelengths of light, from the test surface. (This is to measure more closely to what the human eye would see as a combined image of a broad white light spectra image reflectance, but the spectrophotometer desirably provides distinct electrical signals corresponding to the different levels of reflected light from the respective different illumination wavelength ranges or channels.)
A xe2x80x9ccalorimeterxe2x80x9d normally has three illumination channels, red, green and blue. That is, generally, a xe2x80x9ccalorimeterxe2x80x9d provides its three (red, green and blue or xe2x80x9cRGBxe2x80x9d) values as read by a light sensor or detector receiving reflected light from a color test surface sequentially illuminated with red, green and blue illuminators, such as three different color LEDs or three lamps with three different color filters. It may thus be considered different from, or a limited special case of, a xe2x80x9cspectrophotometer,xe2x80x9d in that it provides output color information in the trichromatic quantity known as RGB.
Trichromatic quantities may be used for representing color in three coordinate space through some type of transformation. Other RGB conversions to xe2x80x9cdevice independent color spacexe2x80x9d (i.e., RGB converted to conventional L*a*b*) typically use a color conversion transformation equation or a xe2x80x9clookup tablexe2x80x9d system in a known manner. (Examples are provided in references cited herein, and elsewhere.)
A xe2x80x9cdensitometerxe2x80x9d typically has only a single channel, and simply measures the amplitude of light reflectivity from the test surface, such as a developed toner test patch on a photoreceptor, at a selected angle over a range of wavelengths, which may be wide or narrow. A single illumination source, such as an IR LED, a visible LED, or an incandescent lamp, may be used. The output of the densitometer detector is programmed to give the optical density of the sample. A densitometer of this type is basically xe2x80x9ccolor blind.xe2x80x9d For example, a cyan test patch and magenta test patch could have the same optical densities as seen by the densitometer, but, of course, exhibit different colors.
A multiple LED reflectance spectrophotometer, as in the examples of the embodiments herein, may be considered to belong to a special case of spectrophotometers which normally illuminate the target with narrow band or monochromatic light. Others, with wide band illumination sources, can be flashed Xenon lamp spectrophotometers, or incandescent lamp spectrophotometers. A spectrophotometer is normally programmed to give more detailed reflectance values by using more than 3 channel measurements (for example, 10 or more channel measurements), with conversion algorithms. That is in contrast to normal three channel calorimeters, which cannot give accurate, human eye related, reflectance spectra measurements, because they have insufficient measurements for that (only 3 measurements).
The spectrophotometer of the disclosed embodiment is a spectrophotometer especially suitable for being mounted at one side of the printed sheets output path of a color printer to optically evaluate color imprinted output sheets as they move past the spectrophotometer, variably spaced therefrom, without having to contact the sheets or interfere with the normal movement of the sheets. In particular, it may be used to measure a limited number of color test patch samples printed by the printer on actual printed sheet output of the printer during regular or selected printer operation intervals (between normal printing runs or print jobs). These color test sheet printing intervals may be at regular timed intervals, and/or at each machine xe2x80x9ccycle-up,xe2x80x9d or as otherwise directed by the system software. The spectrophotometer may be mounted at one side of the paper path of the machine, or, if it is desired to use duplex color test sheets, two spectrophotometers may be mounted on opposite sides of the paper path.
Relatively frequent color recalibration of a color printer is highly desirable, since the colors actually printed on the output media (as compared to the colors intended to be printed) can significantly change, or drift out of calibration over time, for various known reasons. For example, changes in the selected or loaded print media, such as differences paper or plastic sheet types, materials, weights, calendaring, coating, humidity, etc. Or changes in the printer""s ambient conditions, changes in the image developer materials, aging or wear of printer components, varying interactions of different colors being printed, etc. Printing test color patches on test sheets of the same print media under the same printing conditions during the same relative time periods as the color print job being color-controlled is thus very desirable.
It is thus also advantageous to provide dual-mode color test sheets, in which multiple color patches of different colors are printed on otherwise blank areas of each, or selected, banner, cover, or other inter-document or print job separator sheets. Different sets of colors may be printed on different banner or other test sheets. This dual use of such sheets saves both print paper and printer utilization time, and also provides frequent color recalibration opportunities where the printing system is one in which banner sheets are being printed at frequent intervals anyway.
An additional feature which can be provided is to tailor or set the particular colors or combinations of the test patches on a particular banner or other test sheet to those colors which are about to be printed on the specific document for that banner sheet, i.e., the document pages which are to be printed immediately subsequent to that banner sheet (the print job identified by that banner sheet). This can provide a xe2x80x9creal timexe2x80x9d color correction for the color printer which is tailored to correct printing of the colors of the very next document to be printed.
The preferred implementations of the systems and features disclosed herein may vary depending on the situation. Also, various of the disclosed features or components may be alternatively used for such functions as gray scale balancing, turning on more than one illumination source at once, such as oppositely positioned LEDs, etc.
It will be appreciated that these test patch images and colors may be automatically sent to the printer imager from a stored data file specifically designed for printing the dual mode banner sheet or other color test sheet page, and/or they may be embedded inside the customer job containing the banner page. That is, the latter may be directly electronically associated with the electronic document to be printed, and/or generated or transmitted by the document author or sender. Because the printed test sheet color patches colors and their printing sequence is known (and stored) information, the on-line spectrophotometer measurement data therefrom can be automatically coordinated and compared.
After the spectrophotometer or other color sensor reads the colors of the test patches, the measured color signals may be automatically processed inside the system controller or the printer controller to produce or modify the tone reproduction curve, as explained in the cited references. The color test patches on the next test sheet may then be printed with that new tone reproduction curve. This process may be repeated so as to generate further corrected tone reproduction curves. If the printer""s color image printing components and materials are relatively stable, with only relatively slow long term drift, and there is not a print media or other abrupt change, the tone reproduction curve produced using this closed loop control system will be the correct curve for achieving consistent colors for at least one or even a substantial number of customer print jobs printed thereafter, and only relatively infrequent and few color test sheets, such as the normal banner sheets, need be printed.
However, if there are substantial changes in the print media being used by the printer, or other sudden and major disturbances in the printed colors (which can be detected by the spectrophotometer output in response to the test patches on the next dual mode banner sheet or other color test sheet or even, in certain instances, in the imprinted images) then the subsequent customer print job may have incorrect color reproduction. In these situations of customer print media changes in the printer (or new print jobs or job tickets that specify a change in print media for that print job), where that print media change is such that it may substantially affect the accuracy of the printed colors for that subsequent print job, it is not desirable to continue printing and then have to discard the next subsequent print jobs printed with customer unacceptable colors. In that situation it may be preferable in color critical applications to interrupt the normal printing sequence once the sudden color printing disturbance is detected and to instead print plural additional color test sheets in immediate succession, with different color test patch colors, to sense and converge on a new tone reproduction curve that will achieve consistent color printing for that new print media, and only then to resume the normal printing sequence of customer print jobs. Thus, the subsequent customer print jobs would then use the final, re-stabilized, tone reproduction curve obtained after such a predetermined number of sequential plural color test sheets have been printed.
This patent application is not related to or limited to any particular one of the various possible (see, for example, various of the cited references) algorithms or mathematical techniques for processing the electronic signals from the spectrophotometer to generate or update color correction tables, tone reproduction curves, or other color controls, and hence they need not be further discussed herein.
Various possible color correction systems can employ the output signals of spectrophotometers, using various sophisticated feedback, correction and calibration systems, which need not be discussed in any further detail here, since the general concepts and many specific embodiments are disclosed in many other patents (including those cited herein) and publications. In particular, to electronically analyze and utilize the spectrophotometer or other electronic printed color output information with a feedback analysis system for the color control systems for a printer or other color reproduction system. It is, however, desirable in such systems to be able to use a substantially reduced (smaller) number of color patch samples, printed at intervals during the regular printing operations, to provide relatively substantially continuous updating correction of the printer""s color renditions over a wide or substantially complete color spectra. Noted especially in that regard is the above-cited Xerox Corp. Steven J. Harrington U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,007 B1.
Color correction and/or color control systems should not be confused with color registration systems or sensors. Those systems are for insuring that colors are correctly printed accurately superposed and/or accurately adjacent to one another, such as by providing positional information for shifting the position of respective color images being printed.
Other background patents which have been cited as to color control or correction systems for printers include the following U.S. patents: Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,244, issued Oct. 5, 1999 to L. K. Mestha, et al, entitled xe2x80x9cOptimal Reconstruction of Tone Reproduction Curvexe2x80x9d (using a lookup table and densitometer readings of photoreceptor sample color test patches to control various color printer parameters); U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,376, issued December 1996 to Harrington; U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,386, issued Jun. 18, 1996 to Rolleston et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,413, issued Jun. 23, 1981 to Sakamoto et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,919, issued Feb. 19, 1985 to Schreiber; U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,613, issued May 16, 1995 to Rolleston et al.; U.S. 5,508,826, filed Apr. 27, 1993 and issued Apr. 16, 1996 to William J. Lloyd et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,324, issued Nov. 28, 1995 to Rolleston; U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,568, issued Feb. 13, 1996 to Wan; U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,522, issued Jul. 23, 1996 to Yoshida; U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,360, issued Jan. 9, 1996 to Rolleston et al.; U.S. 5,594,557, issued January 1997 to Rolleston et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,844 issued April 1957 to Neugebauer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,919, issued February 1985 to Schreiber; U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,568, issued Feb. 13, 1996 to Wan; U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,380 to Bestmann, issued Jan. 2, 1996; U.S. 5,664,072, issued Sep. 2, 1997 to Ueda et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,258, issued Aug. 6, 1996 to Levien; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,209, filed Sep. 13, 1994 and issued Mar. 9,1999 to Michael Stokes.
By way of further background on the subject of technology for automatic color correction for color printers or other reproduction apparatus, especially such systems utilizing feedback signals from a colorimeter or spectrophotometer (as noted, those terms may be used interchangeably herein), and/or automatically measuring the actually printed colors of test patches on printed copy sheets as they are being fed through the output path the printer, there is noted the following: the above-cited Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,221, filed Nov. 1, 1995 and issued May 5, 1998 to V. Castelli, et al, entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus for Colorimetry, Gloss and Registration Feedback in a Color Printing Machine,xe2x80x9d (noting especially the colorimeter detector details); the above-cited Apple Computer, Inc. U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,902, issued Mar. 18, 1997 to Michael Stokes; Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,896, issued Apr. 23, 1996 to Walter Wafler, filed Jun. 18, 1993 (see especially Col. 8 re color calibration from information from a scanned color test copy sheet as compared to original color image information); and Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,118, issued Mar. 16,1999 to Mantell and L. K. Mestha, et al, entitled xe2x80x9cPrinter Having Print Output Linked to Scanner Input for Automated Image Quality Adjustmentxe2x80x9d (note especially Col. 6, lines 45-49).
U.S. Patents of interest to color correction in general, but which may be useful with, or provide background information for, the above or other systems, include the above-cited Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,557, filed Oct. 3, 1994 and issued Jan. 14, 1997 to R. J. Rolleston et al., entitled xe2x80x9cColor Printer Calibration Correcting for Local Printer Non-Linearities,xe2x80x9d Seiko Epson Corp. U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,213, provisionally filed Feb. 23, 1996 and issued Sep. 15, 1998 to A. K. Bhattacharjya re reduced color measurement samples; and Splash Technology, Inc. U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,913, filed Feb. 12, 1996 and issued Jun. 2, 1998 to Richard A. Falk in which a calibration image is scanned using a scanner coupled to the printing system with a personal computer.
In addition to above-cited issued patents, also noted as of possible interest to on-line color printer color control or correction systems (other than spectrophotometers per se) are Xerox Corp. U.S. Applications including: U.S. application Ser. No. 09/083,202, filed May 22, 1998 by Mark A. Scheuer, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cDevice Independent Color Controller and Method,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/083,203, filed May 22, 1998 by Lingappa K. Mestha, entitled xe2x80x9cDynamic Device Independent Image,xe2x80x9d (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,469, issued Dec. 5, 2000); U.S. application Ser. No. 09/232,465, filed Jan. 19, 1999 by Martin E. Banton, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus and Method for Using Feedback and Feedforward in the Generation of Presentation Images In A Distributed Digital Image Processing System,xe2x80x9d Attorney Docket No. D/98423; U.S. application Ser. No. 09/221,996, filed Dec. 29, 1998 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cColor Adjustment Apparatus and Method,xe2x80x9d U.S. Application Ser. No. 09/455,761, filed Dec. 7, 1999 by Sidney W. Marshall, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cColor Gamut Mapping for Accurately Mapping Certain Critical Colors and Corresponding Transforming of Nearby Colors and Enhancing Global Smoothness,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/487,586, filed Jan. 19, 2000 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cMethods For Producing Device and Illumination Independent Color Reproduction,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/451,215, filed Nov. 29, 1999 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cOn-Line Model Prediction and Calibration System For A Dynamically Varying Color Marking Device,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/454,431, filed Dec. 3, 1999 by Tracy E. Thieret, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cOn-Line Piecewise Homemorphism Model Prediction, Control and Calibration System for a Dynamically Varying Color Marking Device,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/461,072, filed Dec. 15, 1999 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSystems and Methods for Device Independent Color Control to Achieve Accurate Color Proofing and Reproduction,xe2x80x9d U.S. application Ser. No. 09/562,072, filed May 1, 2000 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSystem and Method for Reconstruction of Spectral Curves, Using Measurements from a Color Sensor and Statistical Techniques,xe2x80x9d U.S. Application Ser. No. 09/621,860, filed Jul. 21, 2000 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSystem and Method for Reconstruction of Spectral Curves Using Measurements from a Color Sensor and a Spectral Measurement System Model,xe2x80x9d and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/566,291, filed May 5, 2000 by Lingappa K. Mestha, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cOn-Line Calibration System For A Dynamically Varying Color Marking Device,xe2x80x9d
As further well-known background for on difficulties in color correction of printers in general, computers and other electronic equipment generating and inputting color images or documents typically generate three-dimensional or RGB (red, green, blue) color signals. These color signals may be transmitted as PDL or other device independent terms to a specific server or printer for a xe2x80x9cRIPxe2x80x9d (raster image process) conversion to device dependent color values, such as for the line and bit signals for the laser scanner or LED bar of the particular printer. Many printers, however, can receive four-dimensional or CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) signals as input, and/or can print with four such print colors (although the printed images can still be measured as corresponding RGB values). A look-up table is commonly provided to convert each digital RGB color signal value to a corresponding digital CMYK value before or after being received by the printer.
Real-world printers inherently have non-ideal printing materials, colors and behaviors, and therefore have complex non-linear colorimetric responses. Also, interactions between the cyan, magenta, and yellow imaging materials exist, especially on the printed output, which result in unwanted or unintended absorptions and/or reflections of colors. Even after a printer is initially calibrated, such that one or a range of input digital CMYK values produce proper colors, the full spectrum of CMYK values and printed colors will not be or remain fully accurate. In other words, the colors requested or directed to be printed by various input signals will not be the same as the actual colors printed.
This discrepancy arises in part because the relationship between the digital input values that drive the printer and the resulting colorimetric response is a complex non-linear function. Labeling the response, or other values, as xe2x80x9ccolorimetricxe2x80x9d can indicate that the response or value has been measured by such an instrument. Adequately modeling the colorimetric response of a printer to achieve linearity across the entire available spectrum requires many parameters. Typically, a color correction look-up table is built which approximates the mapping between RGB colorimetric space and CMYK values, as taught in various of the above-cited references. Each RGB coordinate may be typically represented by an 8-bit red value, an 8-bit green value, and an 8-it blue value. Although those RGB coordinates are capable of addressing a look-up table having 2563 locations, measuring and storing 2563 values is time consuming and expensive. The look-up table is thus typically partitioned into a smaller size such as 16xc3x9716xc3x9716 (4096) table locations, each of which stores a four-dimensional CMYK value. Other CMYK values may then be found by interpolating the known CMYK values using an interpolation process, for example, trilinear or tetrahedral interpolation.
The color correction look-up table may be built by sending a set of CMYK digital values to the printer, measuring the colorimetric RGB values of the resulting color patches outputted by the printer with a spectrophotometer, and generating the look-up table from the difference between the inputted values and the measured outputted values. More specifically, the color correction look-up table corrects for non-linearities, printing parameter variations, and unwanted absorptions of inks, so that the printer will print the true corresponding color.
After the color correction table is generated, the actual printer response may tend to drift over time. To correct for the drift, the system is adjusted or recalibrated periodically. Recalibrating the color correction table involves periodically printing and remeasuring a set of test color patches which are then compared to an original set of color patches by calibration software. Remeasuring, however, has heretofore more typically been performed manually by a scanner or other measuring device which is remote from the printer being recalibrated. For example, by removing a test output sheet from the printer output tray, placing it (stationary) on a table and sliding a spectrophotometer over it, manually or with an X-Y plotter driver, or automatically feeding the test sheet through the spectrophotometer, and storing the spectrophotometer output signals data in an associated memory to read out later, or connecting the spectrophotometer by an electrical wire or cable to the printer controller or its server to directly receive those color recalibration electrical input signals from the spectrophotometer and process them as described. The connecting cable could be replaced by known IR or RF wireless (such as xe2x80x9cBlueToothxe2x80x9d) connection systems, as used in PC and other electronic components connections. However, this off-line manual testing of calibration sheets assumes that the operator can properly manually identify and measure the test color sheets or patches being tested in the correct order, from the correct machine. Once a color correction table is generated, it must be associated with the correct printer, otherwise, a different printer will be recalibrated with an incorrect correction table. An automatic, on-line, dedicated spectrophotometer color correction system does not have these problems or potential error sources.
It will be appreciated that although the specific embodiment herein is described with particular reference to such desirable applications for calibrating and/or regularly re-calibrating color printers and/or refining color correction tables, that what is disclosed herein may also find various other applications in other color testing and correction systems and industries.
As discussed, in high quality color reprographic applications, it is highly advantageous to monitor and update system colorimetric performance on-line and automatically through the use of an integrated spectrophotometer. That is, to have the printing device automatically fairly frequently generate calibration prints on otherwise normally printed sheets with color patches based on digital test pattern generations, and to have a spectrophotometer in the printer output which can read those moving sheet printed color test patches accurately to provide printed output color measurement signals, without manual intervention or printing. This requires a relatively low cost yet fast, accurate, and wide spectral range spectrophotometer capable of effectively operating in that environment, and under those conditions, without interfering with normal printing operations. That is, being of sufficiently low cost such that this enhanced feature can be provided on commercial color printers without substantially increasing the total customer cost of those printers. That is not typical for conventional laboratory spectrophotometers. The disclosed spectrophotometer embodiment may be positioned at any convenient location along the normal paper path of a printing machine. It may even be fitted into the output sheet stacker tray of various existing color printers.
A specific feature of the specific embodiment disclosed herein is to provide a color correction system for a color printer having an output path for moving printed color sheets, including printed test sheets with printed color test patches, in which a spectrophotometer is mounted adjacent to said printer output path for sensing the colors printed on said printed color test patches on said printed test sheets as said printed test sheets are moving past said spectrophotometer in said output path, and in which at least one illumination source is provided for illuminating said color test patches with different illumination spectra; wherein plural sets of plural small test patches of different colors are printed on said printed test sheets, and wherein a plural number of said plural small test patches of different colors in a said set are simultaneously illuminated by said illumination source, and wherein said spectrophotometer has a photodetector system for providing different electrical signals in response to reflected illumination from said different colors of said plural small test patches of different colors being simultaneously illuminated by said illumination source, wherein said photodetector system comprises at least one photodetector having an photodetecting area with multiple photo-sites including at least three different sets of said photo-sites having different spectral responses.
Further specific features disclosed herein, individually or in combination, include those wherein said photodetector system comprises at least one low cost commercial photodetector chip having at least three rows of small closely spaced multiple photo-sites with integral red, green and blue color filtering respectively, to provide at least three different spectral responses with at least three different electrical output signals; and/or further including an optics system for simultaneously focusing on different said portions and different said photo-sites of said photodetecting area of said photodetector a plural number of said plural small test patches of different colors in a said set of said plural small test patches of different colors being simultaneously illuminated by said illumination source; and/or wherein said at least one illumination source comprises less than 5 LEDs providing a limited number of different spectra illuminations, and a sequential actuation circuit for said LEDs; and/or wherein said photodetector system comprises at least photodetector chip having at least three rows of small closely spaced multiple photo-sites with different color filtering to provide at least three different spectral responses with at least three different electrical output signals, and wherein each of a plural number of said plural small test patches of different colors in a said set of said plural small test patches of different colors being simultaneously illuminated by said illumination source simultaneously exposes different said multiple said photo-sites in each of said three rows of multiple photo-sites with different color filtering to provide at least three different spectral responses with at least three different electrical output signals for each of said small test patches of different colors at substantially the same time; and/or a low cost high speed spectrophotometer comprising at least one illumination source for illuminating a color test target area having plural different color areas simultaneously to provide to provide simultaneously reflected light from said plural different color areas, and comprising at least one photodetector chip having a photosensitive surface area with multiple small and closely spaced photo-sites, said photodetector chip being mounted to receive, in discrete areas of said photosensitive surface area, at least a portion of said simultaneously reflected light from said simultaneously illuminated plural different color areas of said color test target area, and wherein said multiplicity of small and closely spaced photo-sites have at least three different spectral responses, and wherein said simultaneously reflected light from said simultaneously illuminated plural different color areas received on said discrete areas of said photosensitive surface area of said photodetector chip provides said at least three different spectral responses for each of said simultaneously illuminated plural different color areas substantially simultaneously; and/or wherein said multiplicity of small and closely spaced photo-sites with said at least three different spectral responses are provided by at least three rows of said photo-sites having different color filtering, and portions of all three said rows are simultaneously exposed to said reflected light from said illuminated color test target to provide said at least three different spectral responses and at least three different corresponding electrical signals substantially simultaneously for each of said plural different color areas; and/or wherein said at least one illumination source comprises a limited plural number of said illumination sources comprising less than approximately five LEDs with different spectral emissions, and a sequential actuation circuit for rapid sequentially actuation of said LEDs, for broad spectrum color measurements; and/or wherein said at least one illumination source comprises a white light illumination source; and/or wherein said spectrophotometer is a part of a color control system of a color printer with a printed sheets output path and a system for printing and moving though said same printed sheets output path color test sheets printed with multiple sets of said plural different color areas, and wherein said spectrophotometer is mounted adjacent to at least one side of said printed sheets output path of said color printer to sequentially analyze said multiple sets of said plural different color areas of said printed color test sheets printed by said printer as said printed color test sheets are moving past said spectrophotometer in said printed sheets output path of said color printer; and/or wherein said at least one photodetector chip comprises a plurality of said photodetector chips mounted arrayed around said color test target area and spaced from said color test target area to receive said reflected light from said plural different color areas of said color test target area at substantially the same angle from opposing directions; and/or further including relatively spatially insensitive optics for simultaneously focusing said reflected light from said plural different color areas of said color test target area onto respective said discrete areas of said photosensitive surface area; and/or wherein said photodetector chip is a component part for a commercially available document color imaging bar; and/or wherein said at least one photodetector chip is a component part for a document color imaging bar having at least three rows of small closely spaced photo-sites with integral red, green and blue color filters, respectively, to provide different electrical output signals from said multiple photo-sites in said three rows for the same said reflected light; and/or a method of plural color measurements of the plural colors of a color test target area having plural different color test areas, comprising simultaneously illuminating at least a portion of said plural different color test areas of said color test target area with at least one illumination source to produce reflected light therefrom, and substantially simultaneously measuring said reflected light from said plural different color test areas by exposing said reflected light from said plural different color test areas simultaneously onto plural different sets of multiple photo-sites of at least one multi-photo-site photodetector, which plural different sets of simultaneously exposed multiple photo-sites comprise at least three different types of photo-sites with at least three different spectral responses providing at least three different types of multiple output signals from each of said different sets of multiple photo-sites exposed by said reflected light from said plural different color test areas; and/or wherein said simultaneously illuminating of at least a portion of said plural different color test areas of said color test target area with at least one illumination source includes the sequential actuation of respective plural different LEDs providing plural different spectral illuminations of said color test target area for providing broad spectral analysis of said plural different color test areas; and/or wherein said at least one illumination source is a white light source; and/or wherein said at least one multi-photo-site photodetector is a photodetector chip which is normally a component part of a document color imaging bar having at least three rows of small closely spaced multiple photo-sites with integral red, green and blue color filters respectively; and/or wherein said reflected light is focused by relatively displacement insensitive optics onto said at least one multi-photo-site photodetector; and/or wherein a plurality of said multi-photo-site photodetectors are angularly spaced around said color test target area; and/or an improved method of color control of a color printer, comprising printing test sheets with multiple sets of multiple small adjacent but different color test patches in said printer, illuminating, one set at a time, at least a portion of a said set so as to simultaneously illuminate at least a plurality of said multiple small adjacent but different color test patches in said set, and simultaneously imaging the reflected said illumination of said simultaneously illuminated plurality of different color test patches onto different areas of at least one photodetector having plural differently color responsive sets of multiple photo-sites, to substantially simultaneously provide plural discrete color signals from said differently color responsive sets of multiple photo-sites from said imaging of said reflected illumination from said plural different color test patches onto said different areas, and controlling the color printing of said color printer with said plural discrete color signals; and/or wherein said illumination of said multiple sets one at a time to simultaneously illuminate at least a plurality of said multiple small adjacent but different color test patches in a said set comprises the rapid sequential illumination of plural different spectral emission LEDs; and/or wherein said at least one photodetector is a low cost commercial chip which is normally a component part of a document color imaging bar, having at least three rows of small closely spaced photo-sites with integral red, green and blue color filtering to provide at least three different spectral responses with at least three different electrical output signals; and/or wherein said illumination and said at least one photodetector are provided by an integral spectrophotometer unit mounted at one side of a printed sheets output path of said color printer for on-line color control of said color printer; and/or wherein said simultaneous imaging of said reflected illumination of a plurality of said different color test patches onto different areas of said at least one photodetector is through displacement insensitive optics providing for variable spacing of said test sheet therefrom.
The disclosed system may be connected, operated and controlled by appropriate operation of conventional control systems. It is well known and preferable to program and execute various control functions and logic with software instructions for conventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerous prior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may of course vary depending on the particular functions, software type, and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will be available to, or readily programmable without undue experimentation from functional descriptions, such as those provided herein, and/or prior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together with general knowledge in the software and computer arts. Alternatively, the disclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fully in hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.
In the description herein, the term xe2x80x9csheetxe2x80x9d refers to a usually flimsy (non-rigid) physical sheet of paper, plastic, or other suitable physical substrate or print media for images, whether precut or web fed. A xe2x80x9ccopy sheetxe2x80x9d may be abbreviated as a xe2x80x9ccopy,xe2x80x9d or called a xe2x80x9chardcopy.xe2x80x9d Printed sheets may be referred to as the xe2x80x9coutput.xe2x80x9d A xe2x80x9cprint jobxe2x80x9d is normally a set of related printed sheets, usually one or more collated copy sets copied from a one or more original document sheets or electronic document page images, from a particular user, or otherwise related.
As to specific components of the subject apparatus, or alternatives therefor, it will be appreciated that, as is normally the case, some such components are known per se in other apparatus or applications which may be additionally or alternatively used herein, including those from art cited herein. All references cited in this specification, and their references, are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features, and/or technical background. What is well known to those skilled in the art need not be described here.